I once dreamed that I swam in a lake underneath a church, as if the church was a kind of iceberg in the water.

These images are a visual expression of the act of contemplation and turning inward, sparked from momentary experiences of anxiety, wonder, alienation, spiritualism, or mystery. Contemplation has a long history as a theme in literature, poetry, art, and religion. I am particularly influenced by both Christian and Eastern mysticism and rapturous moments of beauty triggered by the mundane — visions that result from spiritual yearning. Though not particularly religious myself, my mother and father are both former pastors, now ministers and have given their life to the church. I grew up often wondering about the nature of faith. I then studied several seminal texts as a literature student in college that poetically meditate on these themes, such as St. Augustine’s Confessions and Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, a medieval text considered to be the earliest book written by a woman in the English language (my series borrows its title from this work). In it, Julian writes in vivid detail about being pierced by the strange “shewings,” or mystical visions, she sees while gravely ill — hazelnuts and wounds become carriers of divine meaning for her, messages from God.

What does it mean to seek the spiritual in the absurdity of modern life and is this act in itself absurd as well? My work is a visual sublimation of these abstract yet universal questions that are, nonetheless, rooted in very material and vivid moments. I prefer to preserve within my work a spontaneous, elemental energy by only taking naturalistically observed images (i.e. none of them are staged or planned) and to express what I see as the surreal poetry in everyday life.